Blog 1

1. My first reaction was, "Wow, these are super long," but then I read through to get the
essentials. I already knew a lot about the topics revolving individuality, identity,
enlightenment, and double consciousness because of my father's teachings, but the new
information was greatly needed and interesting.
2. Above all, I want to strengthen my diction. The same words over and over again get pretty
boring.
3. I am an afro-centric, able bodied Black queer woman. I am slowly but surely beginning to
uncover truths about my ancestral history and have begun to embrace all parts of my
being and culture and reject "white truth". I am strongly connected to the earth, with both
masculine and feminine energy, and pray to Orisha's, or Yoruba gods and goddesses, as
well as Egyptian deities. Judging by all of these attributes, I am recovering indigenous
consciousness.
4. I would like to improve my ability to connect with my audience. I struggle with relaying
emotion in my essays but am over assertive in my personal writings.
5. No, I don't believe that everything's an argument, because even when a person is able to see
things from the other side, their past experiences shape the way they view the world
around them. If I say that a stick is blue and another person says that the stick is orange,
the stick is still going to be blue to me because of my perception and past experiences
with similar sticks.
6.
7. Double consciousness is the dual awareness and perception that Black people of color have
developed as a response to life in America. Double consciousness allows Blacks to view
the world from two different screens- one is an African and the other is as an "American".
Being displaced creates a number of personality issues and makes it difficult for Blacks
to create and discover their own identities. Double consciousness definitely affects me
and I still struggle with becoming my own being because of constant worrying about
whether or not I'm going to be accepted.

Blog 5
Responsibility and ownership are two things that most people lack in todays world. Instead of
accepting their faults and taking the necessary action to prevent situations from
reoccurring, people ignore the sleeping elephant, blame the victim, or worseblame
God. Although its easy to push ones troubles and complications onto another person, or
in this case another entity, it doesnt solve anything and adds more spice to the brew.
Alternatively, there are also those who take complete responsibility of their faults, but
claim a higher power gave them no choice. Does acknowledging errors make a person
weak or inadequate? Is showing emotion and remorse a lost art? Or is the blame game the
latest pastime?
Too often there are news reports with headlines like, Islamic Terrorists Scream Allahu Akbar
Before Slaughtering English Journalists or, KKK Open Fire on Blacks at Local
Confederate Rally. The details are usually general and recycled with statements like,
Sources say religious text may have played a role in the attack. Never are the
individuals held responsible or credited. All of the blame falls on the Holy books and
worshippers who have no desire to harm others.
Many Holy texts spanning religions from East to West speak about the use of force against nonbelievers and evil-doers, but most scholars agree that these words are allegories and
metaphorical. For example The Holy Quran, which is the religious text that all Muslims
follow, states that all information listed in the book is either absolute or has an underlying
interpretation:
It is He who has sent down to you, [O Muhammad], the Book; in it are verses [that are] precise
- they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific. As for those in whose hearts
is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord
and seeking an interpretation [suitable to them]. And no one knows its [true]
interpretation except Allah . But those firm in knowledge say, "We believe in it. All [of it]
is from our Lord." And no one will be reminded except those of understanding (Sahih
International, 3:7).

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This very verse is a clear indication that all horrible actions done in the name of Allah or the
Holy Quran arent just, and should be credited to the agitator rather than the entire
religion.
Once humans are fed with the same information repetitively without further research, or accept
information from biased sources, they begin to associate concepts and ideas with one
another. If something goes against what theyve been taught to perceive as normal, it is
unfathomable and cognitive dissonance begins to settle. Wikipedia describes cognitive

dissonance as the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds

two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by
new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
All creatures are capable of being blindly manipulated, and often times those who blame
unrighteous deeds on God or religion have been brainwashed by the media and those
around them. The blame game is never fun and only leads to more conflict and corruption
in the world. It is a vicious cycle that can only be broken when one realizes their own
ignorance.

Blog 6
At first I thought that it was going some knockoff of 'American Sniper' with an insane story
about a man and his friends and the struggles they faced while in a distant land, going
against humanity and killing innocent people. Im not one for war stories; Ive never
cared for them or the usually harsh details that come with them. After reading "How to
Tell a True War Story," I felt a little somber. I mean here is a story about a man who was
in arguably the worst war in the history of America and how the lives and challenges of
the people around him shaped his everyday life and possibly haunted him.
The difference between story truth and factual truth is that story truth is often situational and
varies from person to person. The sky will always be blue but not ever soldier will step
on a 105 and be pulverized in war.

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I think defining America as a nation of immigrants provides an ethos-based argument because

although the way view immigration has drastically changed over the last two or thousand
years, all of the people living here are direct descendants of an immigrant in one way or
another. Human life originated in Africa so it isnt a stretch to say that the entire world is
full of immigrants with the only true original population living in Tanzania.
Foreigners think of their favorite Korean-American chef or Mexican-American singer and
think, That could be me. I can escape the woes of my home country and build a
completely new life. No more drugs, no more controlled movements. Freedom. Money.
Life. America is colloquially known as the land of opportunity and the land of the
free. America was built on the dreams of migrant Europeans who hoped to form their
own government that was secular and without boundaries. Albeit this had to be achieved
through the mass genocide of the Native and African populations, America is truly a rags
to riches story.

Blog 7
1. I think feminism has a negative connotation because people it to masculinity and lesbianism
(both are absolutely fine). I also think it's negative because don't take time to study what
feminism actually is; it's more than being able to walk outside with your nipples out or
getting equal pay. It's about breaking down a patriarchal society that teaches women that
they are less than and unworthy. That women matter and should stand up to face
oppression with swords and fire. Whether feminism stands for the rights of Trans* folks
and women of color is a different topic, but on the surface it is about celebrating women
and ending the cycle of submissiveness.

2. I would have to say that both women use Rogerian models because they both include personal
experiences. You can really feel the pain in Hook's words as she mentions what her
childhood was like. Women learn from a very young age that there are things we "aren't
supposed to do" and that everything we are supposed to do should give the male a sense
of pride and superiority. I do believe sexism and patriarchy hurt both genders because
men absorb oppressive behavior as children not only from their fathers but their mothers
as well. Once they transition into adulthood and sometimes earlier than that, they have
this idea that they are entitled to anything they lay eyes on. This turns into women hating
men and men retaliating in the worst of ways..

3. I like the effect that the word "think-feel" leaves on me. It reminds me that knowing of
something and acknowledging that it is there is vastly different from experiencing it. I
think that is more women and men heard about the sex and gender inequality in this
world and met with people who have lived through it, they would rethink not being
feminist.

Blog 8/9
1.

I don't think my research question had shifted at all; I still believe that people's
perceptions about race play a huge role in whom they decide to pursue when it comes to
romantic relationships. I would first make it broader, basing our argument solely on the
information given by the OKCupid sources is too narrow and there are many more
sources to support our argument. At first I didn't think that I was going to like the
documentary because the thought of someone having "Yellow Fever" was really off
putting; but after seeing Susan and Steven's love grow during the documentary, I began to
love them. What surprised me most was that they actually seemed to be in love with each
other and how funny their interactions were. I was really uncomfortable with the amount
of pictures that Steven had kept over the years of various Asian women. He literally had
THOUSANDS of documents saved up.

2. I believe that a successful research question would be, "why do men tend to go outside of their
race when dating online?" I think a successful thesis statement would include statistical
data, personal experience, and various accounts from men whom actually prefer women
outside of their race and women who've experienced racial bias. I don't believe that
having a racial preference is racist but to exclude a single group of people from dating
completely based on stereotypes is. You cannot say that you don't like Black women
because they're ghetto because all Black women are different; it is the same with all other
people.

3. My current anxiety is that I wont finish my paper in time or that it'll be horrible and not long
enough. I'm swamped with loads of work in other classes and am really unprepared for
this. I do believe that my personal experiences with the trans* community gives me a
little bit of an advantage but I do believe that it can cause me to be a bit biased. The most
difficult part will be finding reliable and credible sources that aren't too biased, and
presenting both sides fairly.